Travel
Company Owner Settles Multi-Million Dollar
Lawsuit with Division of Consumer Affairs;
Barred from Conducting Business in NJ
for No Less Than 5 Years

NEWARK
– The owner of numerous vacation travel
club companies with a long history of consumer
complaints in New Jersey, is barred from
doing business in the state for no less
than five years and cannot open or operate
any such business in the future without
state approval, under terms of a settlement
with the Office of the Attorney General
and State Division of Consumer Affairs.

According
to the lawsuit filed in 2009, defendants
Daryl T. Turner, 39, of Cherry Hill, and
his vacation travel companies took payments
from numerous consumers and then repeatedly
failed to provide the contracted-for travel
packages, or refund the money. The defendants
also failed to deliver various promotional
items promised to consumers in return for
their attendance at promotional seminars.
To date, over 670 affected consumers have
been identified. The lawsuit further charges
Turner and his companies with using in their
promotional materials the corporate logos
of airlines, hotels, and car rental companies
without those companies’ permission.

The
civil complaint, filed in Morris County,
was amended several times as Consumer Affairs
investigators uncovered additional travel
club companies owned or controlled by Turner
throughout New Jersey. The Final Consent
Judgment includes nine of Turner’s
travel companies, all of which are now shut
down.

“We’ve
reached a settlement that immediately puts
an end to Mr. Turner’s business activities
and prevents him from offering vacation
travel club memberships and services here
for at least five years. After the five-year
ban, we will not permit Mr. Turner to resume
business unless he can prove to us that
he is, and has been, in full compliance
with the terms of the Final Consent Judgment,”
Attorney General Paula T. Dow said.

In
addition to prohibiting Turner from owning
or operating any business in the state that
is engaged in the advertisement or sale
of vacation travel packages for at least
5 years, the Final Consent Judgment includes
a comprehensive list of conditions ensuring
that any business in which Turner engages
will be conducted in strict compliance with
state law. One of those conditions is the
requirement that Turner post with the state
a $250,000 bond.

Under
the settlement, Turner is responsible for
over $2,188,000 in consumer restitution
and $478,000 in civil penalties. Turner
is also required to reimburse the state
$419,780.10 for its attorneys’ fees
and investigative costs.

“Not
only does this Judgment make Turner a ‘persona
non grata’ in the New Jersey vacation
travel industry, it clears the way for the
Division of Consumer Affairs to investigate
and seize any assets Turner has or may come
into -- and that is precisely what we intend
to do until every last consumer is made
whole, until every last dollar is paid,”
said Thomas R. Calcagni, Acting Director
of the State Division of Consumer Affairs.

To
assist in getting immediate relief to affected
consumers, the Division of Consumer Affairs
has identified those consumers who used
credit cards to pay Turner and his companies
for vacation packages, and will be contacting
the credit card companies to inform them
of the Consent Judgment to facilitate reimbursements
to those consumers through credit card charge-backs.
Should consumers wish to pursue reimbursements
from their credit card companies themselves,
they may obtain an electronic copy of the
Final Consent Judgment by contacting Consumer
Affairs Investigator Murat Botas at murat.botas@lps.state.nj.us
or (973) 273-8038.

Deputy
Attorneys General Lorraine K. Rak, Chief
of the Consumer Fraud Prosecution Section,
and Gina M. Betts represented the state
in the action. Investigator Murat Botas
in the Office of Consumer Protection led
the investigation.